


Hidden Depths

by ghostdude101



Category: Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Community: avengerkink, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-16
Updated: 2012-05-16
Packaged: 2017-11-05 11:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/406026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostdude101/pseuds/ghostdude101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Bruce is a badass, the team is surprised, and Tony approves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Depths

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the avengerkink at Livejournal. Prompt: "I want a fight where someone invades SHIELD headquarters while the Avengers are there, but rather than Hulk out and destroy government property again, Bruce realises that these are just normal guys with normal guns and that he doesn't need the Hulk this time- and he proceeds to kick their asses AND maintain control AND take charge of the situation."

See, Tony knows that Bruce does martial arts to help him control his temper. Somehow, he's always imagined it as Tai Chi or something; one of those graceful, flow-y martial arts that focuses on more defense than offense.

Well, he's wrong. Damn, is he _ever_ wrong, and he finds that out in a big way when someone decides to invade SHIELD's headquarters when the team is there. Whoever they are, Tony decides that they're really, _really_ stupid, because who the hell decides to invade a top-secret military base crawling with agents? In broad daylight, no less. Seriously?

One of the guys pointing guns at them starts talking, looking like he's making demands. The whole team just stares blankly at him, because nobody can understand a word he's saying, and Tony doesn’t even _recognise_ the language. And that's impressive, to say the least, in a team that consists of two international super-spies and, well, _him_.

Tony is calculating how long they have until all hell breaks loose and bullets are flying everywhere. That is, until he hears a soft voice from somewhere behind him, replying in what seems to be the same language. He looks back, because that's a voice he's familiar with, even if he's never heard it twisting into the short, sharp cadences of the language he's speaking now.

Bruce. Of course. The man has been all over the world, and he picks up languages like a sponge does water. Tony knows, he's seen it first hand when he tried to teach him Italian. In only a few weeks, Bruce had been speaking it just as fluently as Tony himself, and he was definitely impressed.

Bruce walks forward, still speaking, with his hands held up, as if trying to placate the guy. Everyone in the room tenses, maybe expecting him to Hulk out or something, and Natasha has that scary look in her eyes that Tony always thought means that she's mentally running through all the ways she could use to kill you.

Suddenly, tired of playing nice, one of the guys in black points a gun directly at Bruce and clicks the safety off. Before anyone can react, Bruce moves, lightning-fast, and the guy is on the ground, with his gun in Bruce’s hand.

Everyone just stands there for a second, stunned, because this is _Bruce_ , and what the hell? Except for Natasha, of course, who takes it as a sign to fly onto action.

By the time everyone else joins the fight, Bruce and Natasha has pretty much everything under control, and the others is just taking care of subduing them and making sure none of them gets away. Mopping up the scene, basically, Tony thinks.

Once, Clint goes to help Natasha out, and suddenly, “Ow, Banner. Watch where you’re hitting, will you?”

Tony hears a surprisingly apologetic “Sorry, Barton,” from Bruce, and decides that yeah, okay, that’s hot. Don’t get him wrong, Bruce doing science is pretty damn hot, too, what with the glasses and the brains. But fighting Bruce? Shit, smoking hot, is what he’s saying.

And just like that, the fight is over. Bruce and Natasha look winded, and received few bumps and bruises courtesy of the bad guys in ski masks, but otherwise not wounded at all.

On the other hand, Clint, who is the only one injured enough to be bleeding, is holding his bloody nose.

“What the hell, Banner, that hurt. Where did you learn to throw a punch like that?” he says, his voice muffled by the hand still pressed to his nose.

“Um, yeah, sorry about that, Barton,” Bruce says, suddenly all bashful again. “Mistook you for one of them for a minute. Here, let me look at it.”

He examines Clint’s nose for a few seconds, and proclaims it not broken. Natasha has scrounged up ice from somewhere and passes it to Clint.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s had worse,” Natasha says to Bruce. “But really, where _did_ you learn to fight like that, anyway?”

“Buddhist monastery, somewhere in the mountains,” Bruce answers, so dryly that Tony can’t tell if he’s joking or not.

“So, you’re okay?” Steve asks, voice worried. “You’re not…ah…”

“’Hulking out’?” Bruce says, kindly. “It’s all right, Steve, you can say it. And no, I’m not. It didn’t seem necessary.”

“Necessary?” Tony asks, rising his eyebrows. “Getting ambushed by a squad of assassins isn’t in the ‘necessary’ category for you?”

“They’re just human, nothing that needs the other guy’s involvement,” Bruce answers. “Besides, I’m not going to listen to SHEILD lecturing me about destroying government property again,” he says, a small smirk playing on his lips.

A smirk that Tony really, really, wants to match. Because damn, playful is a very good look on Bruce. Yeah, Tony decides, he wants to see that expression on Bruce’s face again. 

Because Tony knows, under that shy, awkward scientist front, Bruce is a really, genuinely fun guy to be with; in the lab, when it’s just the two of them, Bruce would say some pretty outrageous things, all with a straight face and that sly smile curling his lips. And apparently, he’s a badass martial-artist, too, on top of that. 

So, yeah, Tony decides, a little fun with Bruce wouldn’t go amiss. Not at all.


End file.
